For all La Liga viewers

The title race is as tight as ever! Barcelona and Atletico are tied at 1st, with Barca's superior goal difference of +5 the only thing separating them. Real Madrid are only one point behind, with a goal difference +1 better than Atletico, but -4 behind Barca's.

This matchday, Atletico Madrid dropped points at home to Sevilla. A 1-1 draw concluded in a stupid foul by Juanfran in the box, which led to Rakitic scoring a solid penalty. Some good defensive play from Sevilla, and a disappointing display from Atletico led to the draw. Even more disappointing was Diego Costa, who made a series of disgraceful dives and simulations in an attempt to get the referees attention. The match also featured a red card for Alberto Moreno after a risky challenge, and then a shove on an Atleti player.

Barcelona also dropped points in a 1-1 draw away at Levante, but I did not watch the match, so I will not comment. Gerard Pique scored a towering header off a corner, which was Barca's first set-piece goal this year. Pique headed the ball perfectly into the bottom corner, after Levante defender Vyntra scored an identical goal, and became the first Greek player to score against Barcelona in La Liga in almost 10 years.

Real Madrid continued winning ways with a 5-0 victory away at Betis. Goalscorers were Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, di Maria, and Morata. All 5 goals were worthy of being a "golazo". Ronaldo's was a 30 yard rocket, Benzema's featured Luka Modric dribbling past 3 players, Bale's was a perfect free-kick, di Maria's was a 40 yard rocket, and Alvaro Morata's featured an overhead kick assist from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Further down the table, Sevilla remain at 7th with 31 points after their draw with Atletico. Villareal re-enter the top 4 after a 2-0 win against Almeria, and Real Sociedad were held at Madrid against Getafe in a 2-2 draw. Athletic Bilbao will host 18th place Real Valladolid on Monday, and with an expected win at home, can go to 39 points at 4th place again.

Forgot to mention that Atletico's goalscorer was David Villa, who volleyed home after a corner kick.

I can't believe that neither Barça nor Atletico Madrid capitalized on these matches! All credit to Real Madrid for closing the gap by 1 point.

Last Barça game is against Atletico in the Camp Nou, im hoping it will be a decisive game.

@Tiki

That game might just decide the title itself. If they draw, there's a chance that any of the top three may take the title. But, whoever is the winner in that match, has a high chance of being the Champion of Spain.

"Last Barça game is against Atletico in the Camp Nou, im hoping it will be a decisive game."
What if they draw and Real ends up winning the league :P

Its not getting more exciting to be fair, a league isn't about the top 3 its bout the whole league. The relegation battle is a a sham. The mid table teams aren't doing anything spectacular and nobody is really "going" for a Europa League spot. Hence why it is still bollocks.

@Dephased, you will see now the new Chelsea/City battle. They will win every game that you will think that the level of other teams decreased. No mate, its not others, they have monster squads, best coaches, and now they have stability. I predict a winner of EPL with +85 pts and its not because the league is weak, its just competition 2.0 we are living it in Spain for years now. With 2 powerlful teams that ends up every year in CL semi finals.

EPL 1st leg : Its not Swansea or Norwich who were powerful but the top 3 teams who were inconsistent. Only Arsenal was dominating, but they lost precious points against direct rivals.

Now, you will see the real competition between top 3 teams, and you will change your opinion...

La Liga was always exiting for us who have followed it, brilliant battles in the bottom and for CL, EL and even for the top some years look when Villarreal finished 2nd 08, some years when it has been even between barca and real and this year, plus: more than that you get to enjoy the best football imo.. dont forget that in EPL you had only 2 winners between 2005 and 2011..

A league has 20 team and can be exciting in many different ways dont forget that..

but i agree this year its more:)

Like David against Golliath, many neutral fans will want to see Atletico/Arsenal be champions.
but the top 2 teams actually is Barça/RM and Chelsea/Man City, for their squads, their quality players, their coaches, their tranfert market buisness and now their stability.
It will be dificult for others to compete. Im talking about this year.
At least, other EPL teams have some money to compete for Cl, the teams in 4th 5th and 6th place in EPL are more powerful than in la Liga, thats why im sad about what happened to Malaga by having sanctions by UEFA, and Valencia/Sevilla financial crisis, but this could change if foreign Millionnaires comes and invest in Spain like in England...

Look at the Spanish Second Division

"4th 5th and 6th place in EPL are more powerful than in la Liga" highly subjective

Knibis. There are 2-3 title contenders in La Liga. In the EPL there are about 5-6. For the next few years at least that is not going to change. Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton, (Not to mention Manchester United beneath them) are 100 %, without a doubt, better than Villareal, Bilbao and Sociedad. Get over it. EPL > La Liga.

@ Rama : You will see in few weaks that there is only 2 maybe 3 title contenders in England...
The start of the season is a thing, this time of the season is another thing.
3 years ago before the Quataries come to France, the ligue 1 teams had all the same points, does it mean that the league were strong ? Look at the second division in Spain, can you get to a conclusion by seiing the table ?
As i said at the start of the season, Chelsea/City needed time to adapt to new tactics, i agree that EPL is actually better than la Liga but its non sense to say that EPL has 6 contenders...
Next year if both teams keep same coach and same players, you will not see the same thing as this season.
And if there is no dominating team in a league, thats just mean that teams level is very close wich was a sad news for EPL top 3 teams.
THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT ALL TEAMS LEVEL IS HIGH, how someone can get to this conclusion?

I'm reminded of the days when it was only United and Arsenal who were the title contenders. Then Chelsea became rich, Liverpool had a revival, and we had a Top 4. Then City became rich, Tottenham and Everton became good, and we now have a 6 or 7 way scrap for the CL places.

Maybe what's happening to La Liga is what happened to the PL about a decade ago?

@Lodatz

It is. But the difference is the funds. Bilbao may be able to beat Barca/Madrid at the new San Mames, but they won't be able to have the depth to go very far in Europe. Sure, they made the Europa League final in 2012, but the Champions League is what it's all about. Atleti, Real, and Barca are three of the best teams around, but the three teams below them do not have the depth to compete for extended periods of time like the Top 3 do.

^ True, but one thing going for Spanish football, if not an equalizer then at least a great asset, is the continued production of the canteras. A lot of the products of the canteras might end up elsewhere, but at least the Spanish clubs are able to grow their own talent, rather than have to rely on big bucks to purchase them.

It doesn't balance everything out, but, I think it's the reason Spanish football remains relevant at the club level.

At international level, Spain will continue to be one of the Top Dogs for a long while, now, thanks to those canteras.

@Lodatz

I prefer it that way as well. I'd rather have homegrown Spanish talent stacking up my team than all foreign players. It's good to have a balance like Madrid is building right now (50-50 ratio of foreign and Spanish players). But too much of either is bad. Too many foreign players ruins the footballing culture of the country there, and not enough foreign players makes your team's playing style quite predictable and one-dimensional.

Oh please Real has basically none of its own products as starters, 1 year ago they had Casillas but he's not even a starter anymore. The majority should be spanish (preferably local) with a foreign minority or else the club identity is lost. Much like what has happened to Chelsea, City and Arsenal. Though Arsenal still have a decent amount of british players starting regularly. And no the Champions League is not what its all about, its just about glamour and couple of high profile games. The Europa League used to be just as important, but due to television deals it isn't anymore.

Might as well add that footballing quality and best "golazos" doesnt matter to which league is the most exciting. Personally i find The Championship more exciting than La Liga and Ligue 1.

i just hope it's not too late for RM to make a comeback. We need to be regular, non stop wins. i know it's not easy. If we want to get a little chance to win it we need to defeat Barça in Clasico and Atletico too. It's getting exciting in the top 3, but the rest of the table, nothing really. It's still Atletico, Barça, RM at the top. Nothing surprising actually.

@Dephased

You clearly don't know what you're talking about. We have 2 of our own youth players as starters (Carvajal and Lopez), and we have many others who feature regularly in our lineup (Jese, Morata, Casillas, Arbeloa, Casemiro). And I've never said we have our own youth products as starters. I'm speaking of Spanish-grown players, such as Isco, Illarra, and Alonso. In total, we have 9 Spanish players who feature regularly in our starting XI, and another 2 who make occasional appearances (Jesus and Nacho), which is more twice as much as the amount of English players on your squad (Jenkinson, Wilshere, Ox, Walcott, and Gibbs are your only English players).

The Champions League IS what it's all about. Would you rather be content with defeating both Real Madrid and Barcelona in a season and get relegated, or would you rather not defeat either Real or Barca, but reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League? Don't be delusional. The Champions League offers much more exposure and funds than a league victory against Real Madrid will. No one will care if Osasuna hold up a draw against Barcelona, because they're probably not going to feature an important role in the race for the European spots anyways. They're just another "ordinary" team. If a team does not secure success in a continental stage, league success or a couple victories against the likes of Madrid and Barca are meaningless.